Third party M Adapter T?

[AidanH]

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Hi guys,

 

I'm quite interested in picking up an M adapter for my T as I'd like to explore M mount lenses in the future. I understand the RRP for the official adapter is £300, but places such as Photospecialist seem to be selling the official adapter for £190 right now.

 

I also found this third party adapter on eBay for £33, which seems insanely cheap to me.

 

Has anyone heard of / had any experience with this third–party adapter? Is it worth trying out?

[jaapv]

:You gamble 33 bucks -chances are you lose your bet and it is cr@p, but you might strike lucky...

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[thighslapper]

If you are going to use expensive Leica M lenses on a reasonably expensive Leica T camera why adopt such a miserly attitude to the attachments ?

 

£190 is nothing in Leica land ..... and at least you will get something that will last forever and be guaranteed to perform as required ....

[AidanH]

Wow, Thighslapper, did someone get out of the wrong side of bed, or what?

 

I'm simply doing a spot of research. £190 is certainly not a lot of money, no, but if I can buy something for a fifth of that price that will do the same job, the rest of that can go towards some glass. I would assume this is not the case, and that the cheaper adapter is in some way (or many) inferior to Leica's product, but I was just wondering if anyone had any experience with it, and thought this was the best place to ask. Apologies if I've offended your sensibilities by doing some thorough research before making a purchase.

[thighslapper]

grumpiness not intended

 

there are plenty of threads here about 3rd party adapters etc and the general consensus is that usually only Leica and Novoflex are consistently within the specs enough to ensure snug fits and optical correctness.

 

bear in mind that the adapter is made so that it is NOT corrected for infinity with M lenses ...... the setting is a fair bit before you reach the infinity on the lens barrel ..... which is a design decision by Leica, presumably to accommodate variations in lenses and their calibration.

 

you CAN dismantle it easily however and put shims in to correct this if you wish ..... and have the convenience of being able to set your lenses to infinity and know it really will be in focus at infinity ......

 

also ..... the Leica one transmits the lens six bit coding data to the camera, so that in itself is probably worth the extra ....

[marknorton]

In the worst case, not only do cheap adapters not work correctly but the can also damage both the camera and the lens if the bayonets are not properly machined.

 

Further the T knows when the M adapter is mounted and has the LED array to read the M lens code so I cannot see how that could possibly be included in the £33 version.

[Manoleica]

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If you use cheapo film, batteries, adaptors or any other 3rd party equipment how can you be sure your Leica is producing as it was designed! Sure, save money and shop around, I doubt the savings will even equate to the cost of a Leica lens hood and more importantly will the savings cover the cost of potential repairs to your Leica equipment??

[goatsby]

My T setup included the Leica adapter which was great and never a problem. I tried to be slick and ordered the cheapo version on Amazon to see if it would do the same job while saving money, but the adapter did not have the finish of the Leica (as expected) and my 28 Elmarit did not click into place easily and felt wobbly in the mount. Not wanting to damage my lens, the cheap mount was sent back for a refund.

 

While expensive,the Leica adapter is guaranteed to work amd not damage your equipment. Also, I have seen the Leica adapter secondhand for a big savings, so poke around and see what you can find!

[AidanH]

Thanks guys, this is really useful information. As I was expecting, really, but good to get confirmation. I'll go with the official adapter